Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday signed into law a bill redrawing the state’s congressional maps at the behest of President Donald Trump in an effort to flip five US House seats held by Democrats to Republicans. The Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 4 with an 88-52 vote on August 20, and the Texas Senate with an 18-11 vote on August 23.

In July, Trump informed Texas Republican congressmen on a call about his plan with state legislatures to have them redraw Texas’s congressional districts. Three weeks later, CBS released an interview with Trump in which he said that Republicans are entitled to five more congressional seats because other states with greater Democratic seats are a product of gerrymandering, the drawing of districts for political advantage.

Earlier this month, 50 Texas Democrats left the state to break the quorum of the House and Senate. Each legislature is constitutionally required to have two-thirds of its respective members in order to conduct business. The Texas Democrats’ two-week walkout served to delay consideration of the bill. The Texas Constitution authorizes present members to compel the presence of absent members in any manner their respective body may provide. However, Texas does not have the power to extradite the absent members from other states for non-criminal purposes, such as establishing a quorum. Abbott issued arrest warrants for the Democrats’ return and threatened them with fines and losing their seats. Enough Democrats returned to Texas for a quorum on August 17. They face $9,354 in fines and the ongoing threat of losing their seats as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to follow through with his suit, filed with the Supreme Court of Texas.

In response to Texas’ congressional redistricting plan, various Republican-led and Democratic-led states are rushing to redistrict their own states to increase the number of seats held by their respective party leaders. Most notably, the California legislature has passed a congressional map that would take away five Republican-held House seats.

HB 4 is being challenged in federal court by a coalition of Texas voters, backed by the National Redistricting Foundation, who filed a complaint the day after the Senate passed the bill. The plaintiffs allege racial gerrymandering under the Fourteenth Amendment and intentional vote dilution of racial minorities under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs seek to block the bill’s enforcement and have a new redistricting plan ordered to remedy the bill’s violations. Congressional apportionment challenges are special cases, mandated to be heard by a three-judge district court, with direct appeals permitted to the US Supreme Court.

Republicans maintained a majority in the US House in the 2024 election by five seats and currently maintain a majority by seven seats due to vacancies. In Texas, they hold 25 out of 37 occupied seats and one vacant seat previously held by Democrat Sylvester Turner.